Ailing gold prices down to 3-year low, precious metals follow

Precious metals crashed steeply overnight with gold and silver hitting fresh lows, and the yellow shiny metal heading towards its worst quarter in decades with just a few trading days left.

Despite world stocks and bonds having a second day of big gains in Asia and Europe, investors continued Wednesday to dump assets used as a safety net in case central bank money printing went wrong or fuelled a spike in inflation.

Spot gold plummeted to its lowest since August 2010 at $1,223.54 an ounce and was down 3.8% at $1,227.86 an ounce at 6:30 am EST.

Silver futures fell even more sharply, more than 5%, down to silver’s lowest since August 2010 at $18.39 an ounce.

In terms of other precious metals, platinum fell 2.2% at 1,320.49 an ounce and palladium dropped 3.6% at $639.22 an ounce.

Cecilia Jamasmie, news editor at MINING.com, has over 15 years of experience in print media, TV, online media and public relations. She specializes in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Latin American market. Cecilia has been interviewed by BBC News and CBC among others. She has also been syndicated by Forbes, Seeking Alpha and BIV. She holds a Master of Journalism (MJ) from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and she is currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.